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Energy Efficiency


SOTM 2021 Webinar Series

August 10, 2021
CPower’s Indispensable Webinar Series on Energy Markets is Back!  Amidst a global…

Wild Backstory Aside, House Bill 6 Opens a Door for Energy Efficiency Monetization in Ohio

January 27, 2021

Ohio House Bill 6 had the kind of year that, if it hadn’t taken place during 2020, might have garnered national headlines and caught the attention of Hollywood. 

Before we succumb to the temptation of divulging exploitative details–which include outcries of scandal, bribery, corruption, and racketeering–let’s cover the fundamentals of the bill and what they mean to organizations in the Buckeye State looking to monetize their energy efficiency (EE) projects in 2021 and beyond.

HB 6 was enacted into law on Oct. 19, 2019, and requires all energy efficiency (EE) programs offered by electric utilities in Ohio to end by December 31, 2020.

That utility EE programs are no longer offered in 2021 means any rebate rewards offered by utilities are no longer available to organizations who complete or have completed, EE projects. 

But that DOES NOT mean that organizations and EE project developers in Ohio who help the electric grid by permanently reducing electric demand are shut out from earning revenue for their efforts. 

When one door closes…

In Ohio, organizations and EE project developers can, with the help of a licensed curtailment service provider (CSP), offer their permanently reduced demand (“negawatts”) into PJM’s capacity market, the Reliability Pricing Model.

Once the reduced load is accepted into the market, the organization will earn revenue from PJM for four years after the project was completed. 

To learn more about monetizing energy efficiency projects in PJM in the wake of Ohio House Bill 6’s enactment, click here.  

To learn more about the wild ride House Bill 6 had, Google it and pick from any number of vitriol-laced articles that show up on the first page. 

Fun as it may be to shine a light on the mudslinging around HB 6, it’s not our place at The Current to feed the political maelstrom. We’re here to inform, so you can make educated energy management decisions.

That said, you might want to make sure you do your reading on HB 6 indoors and away from the windows. There is a lot of lightning out there right now.

Energy Efficiency in Ohio

December 14, 2020
Utilities’ Energy Efficiency Programs in Ohio are Ending in 2020. CPower can help you keep earning…

Hidden Revenue: Uncovering Money With Energy Efficiency Projects

October 22, 2020



What if we told you that a recently completed energy efficiency project could be earning you hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars for the next four years in addition to the energy cost savings you are already receiving? Too good to be true? Well … the good news is, it’s not. And we have put together a great panel of energy efficiency experts to help tell you how.

Whether you manage energy for your organization or you provide energy services, this live panel will provide details on how to qualify and enroll projects into the PJM Capacity Program so that you can start earning money for energy efficiency projects. You will learn:

  • What types of projects qualify
  • How to enroll and participate
  • How much you can earn
  • Best practices for EE success
  • How to maximize the value of the programs
  • Common FAQs and live Q&A

Listen, learn, discuss, and start earning from your projects this year.

Monetizing Energy Efficiency Projects (Video)

April 20, 2020



Submit your question to the Energy Engineer’s Notebook:

Fill out the form below and your question may be the subject of an Energy Engineer’s Notebook episode.

(If your question isn’t selected for an episode, a CPower engineer will get back to you with an answer.)

How to Monetize Electricity from Waste Stream Recovery

September 04, 2019

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, an estimated 20-50% of industrial energy input is lost as waste heat.

Many industrial organizations in the U.S. have learned how to recover waste heat, yet few understand how to monetize it.

Industrial waste heat is the energy generated in an industrial process that is not put to practical use. Waste heat sources include hot combustion gases discharged to the atmosphere, heated products exiting industrial processes, and heat transfer from hot equipment surfaces.

Waste stream recovery involves capturing and reusing waste heat for the purpose of heating or for generating mechanical or electrical work.

Example uses for recovered waste heat include:

  • Generating electricity
  • Preheating combustion air
  • Preheating furnace loads
  • Absorption cooling 
  • Space heating

Types of industrial manufacturers that are good candidates for waste heat recovery include:

Glass Manufacturing–Regenerators and recuperators are the most frequently used systems for waste heat recovery in the glass industry, which collectively consumes approximately 300 TBtu/year.

Cement Manufacturing–The cement industry consumes about 550 TBtu/year with its most energy-intense processes including those which mine and prepare raw materials for the kiln, clinker, production, and cement milling. Options for heat recovery include preheating meal and power generation (cogeneration).

Iron and Steel Manufacturing–Consuming approximately 1,900 TBtu of energy per year, the U.S. iron and steel industries are prime candidates yet face a challenge for executing economically sound heat recovery. While recovery from clean gaseous streams in these industries is common, heat recovery techniques from dirty gaseous streams (from coke ovens, blast furnaces, basic oxygen furnaces, and electric arc furnaces) often incur high capital investment costs.

Many organizations already participating in waste stream recovery don’t realize that the recovered resource can be monetized in certain energy markets like the mid-Atlantic’s PJM.

In several deregulated markets in the U.S.–PJM, for example–recovered waste heat can be monetized by offering the recovered resource into the region’s forward capacity market. 

Forward capacity markets like PJM’s Reliable Pricing Model (RPM) allow the grid operator to procure the grid’s required capacity in advance of its delivery day.

Implemented in 2007, PJM’s Reliability Pricing Model uses a market approach to obtain the capacity needed to ensure its grid’s reliability.

The RPM’s market approach includes incentives that stimulate investment in existing generation from traditional sources like power plants while encouraging the development of other resources such as demand response and energy efficiency.

With the help of an aggregator like CPower, organizations can offer their permanently reduced demand into a forward capacity market like PJM’s Reliability Pricing Model (RPM).

In many cases, organizations that are already participating in waste stream recovery can realize easy earnings akin to found money that requires little work to obtain other than offering the recovered resource into the market.

To learn more about monetizing waste stream recovery and how to offset the rising U.S. energy expenditure share, read CPower’s “Demand-Side Energy Management in the U.S. Manufacturing Industrial Sector: an analysis of revenue-generating strategies.”

SOTM 2019 Webinar Series

August 08, 2019
60 minutes with CPower Experts. Energy Insights to Plan Your Year. At CPower, we know that running your organization’s…
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